Home-baked chocolate chip cookies are generally baked from a dough having the chocolate chips dispersed throughout the dough. The dough is subdivided into spoon size pieces and dropped onto a baking sheet. A typical recipe provided on the packaging of store-bought chocolate chips calls for about one cup of chocolate chips and about 2.5 cups of other chocolate chip cookie ingredients. This rather large proportion of chocolate chips, the generally large size of the chocolate chips (bottom diameter of about 0.4 in.) and the dough piece size assure the attainment of cookies having a plurality of chocolate chips which have a portion which is visually apparent.
Wire-cutting machines are generally used for the mass production of chocolate chip cookies from a single dough. The dough, like the dough prepared at home, contains the chocolate chips dispersed throughout prior to dough piece formation. On a wire-cutting machine, an extrudate rope is cut into disc-shaped dough pieces having visually apparent chocolate chips. These dough pieces are baked to provide cookies having visually apparent chocolate chips.
Conventional wire-cutting machines, however, cannot be used to mass produce cookies having a shelf-stable plurality of textures from a coextruded dough rope. Wire cutting desirably results in dough pieces having visually apparent chocolate chips. Undesirably, however, the dough bakeable to a chewy texture is also visually apparent to a degree which would result in a loss of the textural dichotomy which resembles that of a freshly baked cookie.
Mass-produced chocolate chip cookies obtained from dough pieces comprising a chewy dough or filling which is enrobed or encased in a crispy dough do not possess the desirable homebaked appearance when the chocolate chips are only included in the chewy dough.
Incorporation of chips into the outer dough which are not exposed in the baked product provides flavor enhancement without the desired chip-rich, home-baked appearance.
Additionally, preparing cookies so that chips present in the chewy dough are visually apparent to an appealing extent can adversely affect the appearance and textural stability of the product. These chips tend to undesireably cause the chewy dough to become visually apparent on the surface of the cookie. As the inner dough chip breaks through the casing dough, it carries the adherent filler dough with it.
During baking the cookie dough expands greatly or puffs, and the surface of the expanded dough cracks or opens up for release of water vapor and leavening gases. As the leavening gases and water vapor are exhausted, the dough contracts, and the cracks or openings narrow in width or reseal. The presence of the sealed-up cracks on the baked cookie surface provide a desireable home-baked appearance. However, the chips, being less porous than the dough, act as barriers to the escape of water vapor and leavening gas. The gases are channeled around the chips. The mass flow rate tends to be greater around the chips than through unobstructed dough portions. The higher gas mass flow rates results in the production of wider cracks, which exposes the interior of the cookie dough to higher oven temperatures. When chips of the moist inner dough penetrate through the outer cookie dough during baking, the high gas mass flows around the chip, and the exposure of the filling to higher temperatures tend to cause boil-over of filling to the outside surface. The higher moisture content and different composition of the filling generally results in a visually apparent discoloration on the surface of the cookie.
The large mass flow of leavening gas and water vapor around the chips also tends to leave voids or passageways in the baked dough surrounding the chips or at the interface between the baked dough and the chips. Additionally, the chips, being lipophilic, absorb shortening or fat from the dough surrounding the chips thereby enhancing the formation of voids or passageways. Migration of water by capillary action from the moister filling through voids or passageways which extend from the filling through the casing can lead to an undesireable drying out of the interior of the cookie, and loss of textural dichotomy.
The dough compositions of the present invention provide cookies having a shelf-stable plurality of textures characteristic of freshly baked cookies. In addition, the cookies have visually apparent particulate flavoring ingredients such as chocolate chips, which are visually apparent to the consumer in a manner characteristic to home-baked chocolate chip cookies.